The Amazing Race has long bee considered one of the best reality TV series to ever air, and garnered one of its most loyal fanbases. This fall, the new season is going to be hitting the 2025 TV schedule on Thursday, September 25th at 9 p.m. ET. The competition show does a great job of following the journeys the teams take around the world, and Phil has never shied away from announcing prizes at the end of challengers or seasons. However, given the time required and all the varying prizes involved, I’ve always wondered: How much do general Race contestants as well as the winners make?
There's a lot going on with the answer, as there are quite a few things we know about what happens during each of the varying seasons the Eye Network has put together. Plus, there's the final prize package teams are hoping to land during the final leg. Let’s take a look at what could happen if CBS loves your audition tape one day, too.
The Big Prize On The Amazing Race Always Stays The Same
While each of the final legs on TAR have been different over the years, the final moment has typically involved all of the eliminated teams waiting for the winners to cross the threshold on the mat to cheers, sometimes tears, and one final interview with host Phil Keoghan.
Each season, the first team to see both participants reach Phil and touch the mat earn the $1 million dollar prize. This number is oft-repeated throughout the season. It's one of the only constants on the series, as the locations, travel types, and even number of teams are consistently in flux.
An example of a big change came in Season 34, when there were no non-elimination legs for the first time, so someone went home every single episode. This may be one of the reasons the show has also started playing with how many teams will compete. In fact, the Season 37 cast was shocked when they showed up to the mat and saw they'd have to outlast more teams than ever before. So, while while the 40th anniversary season is not that far away at this point, the show has not grown stagnant in the least.
During most past seasons, the show has featured teams of two competing (with the exception of a very memorable family season featuring a young Stassi Schroeder, who later starred in and was fired from Vanderpump Rules.) This is an important distinction because not every twosome that competes is a married couple, which means prize winnings are typically split in half, with $500,000 (pre-tax) going to each contestant.
Taxes are a big thing to factor in. So how much does one individual winner take home on Race? Experts in varying states estimate the government pulls a cool $300-$350,000 from that million team total. Split that in half, and that’s still not too shabby, though, as winning contestants (likely) take home around $350,000 apiece or so.
In fact, the Holderness family admitted a few years ago in a podcast that after taxes they took "a little over half" of the prize money home. Though they also noted in the same interview that it "took a while" to get paid by the show.
In a more recent season, boyfriends Ricky Rotandi and César Aldrete took home the big prize, but they also took home way more than just the big prize, thanks to dominating challenges as varied as dancing theatrical performances and welding. The couple actually won 7 of the 11 total legs, and six of those were before the finale, which brings us to how non-winners can nab some additional compensation.
How Does Additional Compensation Work For Contestants On The Amazing Race?
Additional compensation can also be important to teams that win a lot and a nice bonus for teams that might only win 1-2 legs. There are two routes to additional money and prizes on The Amazing Race. The first is to -- and I'll borrow a phrase from my other favorite reality TV series Survivor -- outwit, outlast and outplay the other contestants in the race. How does this work? The longer you make it on the show, the higher the cash payout from CBS just for appearing.
Early on in the series during Season 6, one outlet found the 11th place contestants only took home $1500 as a duo, which is admittedly not a lot to split between two people and have taxes taken out. The money continues to climb from there though the longer contestants are on the show. In that same season (via Men's Health), the second place team took home about $25,000 in additional money while the third place team took home $10,000.
Given Season 6 happened in 2004, there's every reason to think these numbers have changed over time, but unlike Survivor contestant salaries, TAR tends to keep the numbers way under wraps. An Australian version of the show in 2024 did note that prize packages for that version of the series varied wildly, with Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe allegedly taking home around $350,000 while additional contestants took home between $50-$75k for their appearances. It's worth noting this was a celebrity edition of the show in another country, but it does show how salaries can vary widely.
Which brings us to the final way to "make money" on The Amazing Race. The show often has prize packages ranging from cash amounts to free trips and even cars that can extend the goodies contestants can take home if they win specific legs. Of course, those prizes also come with a caveat; like The Price is Right and other prize-specific shows before them, contestants must pay taxes on these prizes.
One of the most unique prizes the show gave out came in Season 8, when the Branson family won "free gas for life." Patriarch Wally later clarified that actually meant $1,200 in gas for 50 years, and to make it less of a hassle, BP and Arco actually let the family cash out after one year.
Contestants Are Paid In Exposure (And A Trip Around The Globe)
Some famous names have chosen to participate in TAR over the years, including The White Lotus' Mike White, Big Brothers' Rachel, Alison, Survivor's Rob and Amber and so many more. Some athletes have competed as well, including Alexander Rossi and Conor Daly, pro eater Joey Chestnut and a slew of former NFL and NBA stars, among others. Some additional Survivor names and more have been bandied about as well.
The upcoming season is expected to be a particularly intriguing series, as the Season 38 cast will be comprised of former Big Brother players and their significant friends and family members. The cast will include CBS' own Angela Murray, Hannah Chaddha, Izzy Gleicher, Chelsie Baham, Enzo Palumbo, Jag Bains, Joseph Abdin, Kat Dunn, Rubina Bernabe, Kyland Young, Taylor Hale, Matt Turner, Natalie Negrotti, and Tucker Des Lauriers. Given what we've seen from former reality contestants in the past, the drive to win the money should be strong from this group.
Even for those who aren't famous before the show, fan-favorites can sometimes build followings on social media or land outside opportunities after their time on the show. Then, of course, there's the whole point of The Amazing Race: the unique opportunity to travel around the world with someone you love (or at least hopefully like, though I hear Season 37 is going to get contentious.) The real prize is the priceless experience.
